BMW CEO Harald Krueger officially confirmed that the automaker is working on a pure electric BMW X3 CUV, as well as a BEV Mini.

Which Mini? That information has not yet been disclosed.

As Bloomberg reports:

“BMW AG will roll out the first battery-powered model of its urban Mini brand as part of a broader push to make electric cars more mainstream and counter ambitious plans from rivals.”

“The new Mini is set to hit the market in 2019 and will be followed in 2020 by a battery-powered version of the BMW X3 sport utility vehicle, Chief Executive Officer Harald Krueger said Friday in an interview.”

“Both new electric models would have “competitive” driving ranges and prices, Krueger said.”

By 2019, anything with less than 200-ish miles of range won’t be competitive, so figure 200-plus for both of these upcoming BEVs. Can’t wait!

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“By 2019, anything with less than 200-ish miles of range won’t be competitive…”

I’m not so sure.

I think a 160 mile** BEV is good to go as long you consider it a “regional” car. — you’re not going to take 600+ mile/day road trips in it, but going somewhere within a 250 mile radius would be ok.

Even with a 300 mile BEV, long road trips (i.e. 600+ miles/day) is going to be doable, but still will be somewhat inconvenient compared to petroleum fueled machine.

It seems to me there might be a “no man’s land”*** of range between 160 miles and 300 miles — but it’s going to depend on a lot of things, specific driving needs and quick charger availability being primary considerations.

**highway real world, i.e. 65 to 70 mph
*** you’re paying for extra battery (and carrying the weight) , but the extra battery is overkill for day to day driving, and it’s not enough to take big road trips

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1 year ago

Samwise

Once you go outside the US 150 miles is plenty if the price is right!
Seriously the furthest place I ever drive most years is 220 kilometres (136 miles) from my house when I visit my parents in the summer, 150 miles would do me just fine!
Any further than that and there are better ways to get there and if for some reason I did need to go further once every few years renting a car to do so would be far cheaper than 50 miles of battery.

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1 year ago

Miggy

Agree, 400 to 500 km of range is good for most. Bring it on BMW. good to see the BMW 225e PHEV is selling well where it is available.

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1 year ago

mr. M

Thats because the BMW 225e PHEV is priced very reasonable, like the BMW 2er Diesel counterpart.

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1 year ago

MaartenV-nl

Batteries are getting cheaper and lighter.
You are using a 2015 argument for a 2020 car.

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1 year ago

mr. M

Even at 70$/kWh (material only cost for current batteries) a 100 miles more in battery size still costs 2.100$ more. That is a lot if you want to buy a cheap car in the first place…

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1 year ago

Joshua Burstyn

There are no cheap BMWs unless you are buying third hand. BMW will want these cars to be both durable, performant and quick to charge. All of these req’s necessitate large, actively cooled packs if they will use NMC or NCA chemistries.

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1 year ago

3laine

Agreed… 200 miles is not inherently necessary. I think it depends on the car. If the new MINI-E is a Clubman/Countryman, then, yeah, it should be ~200 miles+. If it’s a Rocketman (the car shown above, which is smaller than any current MINI), then I think ~120-150 could be sufficient for how the car would actually be used and by whom.

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1 year ago

Nix

carcus, I agree that there will continue to be a niche market for sub-200 mile range EV’s in 2020. But niche market opportunities is by definition the opposite of building a car to be “competitive” in the mass market. Competitive in this context would mean competitive in a marketing sense, not what actual range people actually need.

BMW is selling the i3 REX with a combined 180 mile EPA range in the US. I can’t see BMW coming in under that.

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1 year ago

Steinar

Took our “124 EPA mile” i3 on a trip this weekend, 240 mile trip. The so-called “short range commuter cars” have no limits when the there is a good network of DC chargers. Could have gone much further…

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1 year ago

Stx

100 miles are enough for most needs of travel..but let’s not forget that people are used to cars with 400 miles of range which recharge in 5 minutes.

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1 year ago

EV AZ

BEV X3 could be a competitive all electric SUV.

I thought that I read that a PHEV X3 was coming in 2017?

RAV4 EV
5kw PV

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1 year ago

Get Real

The pressure that Tesla (i.e, the Tesla effect) is putting on the Germans is really starting to get them from dragging their feet on the transition to sustainable transportation through vehicle electrification!

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1 year ago

Anon

It’s also due to Climate Change. If you can’t meet increasingly restricting global carbon emissions from your gas or diesel vehicles, switch to something else that does not directly have any– electric. Problem suddenly solved.

It’s really the only sane and sustainable choice.

And yes, Tesla did help by proving to the world that smart BEV design coupled with smart BEV infrastructure (SuperCharger Network), can allow you easy coast to coast travel that’s civilized and not burdensome.

Hydrogen still hasn’t pulled that rabbit out of it’s unicorn-rainbow-colored-interstate-highway hat, yet. Anyone tried to take all the Tesla Chargers in the world, and convert them into what it would cost to replace them all with Hydrogen Refueling Stations, for the same number of stalls? The cost would be simply astronomical. And then even small children would finally grasp why hydrogen is not the way to go.

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1 year ago

jim stack

Many can get by with 50 mile range. Many friends with a Volt that only has about 38 mile range brag they can drive all year and never use the gas part of their Volt. So why have the gas part at all.

It will be hard for BMW beat their ACPropulsion converted MINI-E that had 150 mile range, adjustable REGEN and V2G and are still on the road in Delaware where they pay for themselves with the V2G.

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1 year ago

3laine

I agree that 200 miles range isn’t inherently necessary. That said, the MINI-E had a 35kwh battery, very similar to the current i3 which is rated at 114 miles and is almost certainly more efficient, so I don’t think 150 miles range for the MINI-E is apples-to-apples with current cars. Probably more like 100-110 miles range.

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1 year ago

Ken

I had a Mini E for 1 year and 23,196 miles. My first day with the car i drove 136.1 miles before plugging in. After some practice, i was up to 147 miles on one charge. I never did get the 156 miles that Mini claimed but some of the other pioneers did. This was in 2009 btw before public charge stations existed. We even had a Mini E owners map so we could take long trips stopping at others houses. I used 14-50 outlets at a RV park to travel all the way to Penn State and Washington DC and NYC. This was before J1772, Chademo, and the only Tesla vehicles on the roads were Roadsters. Mini, please bring back my Mini E. And keep the 12kw charger and 35kwh battery pack.

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1 year ago

Phr≡d

+1, and throw in the 1E and
.
dare I say it
.
the LEGARE (sp?)!
.
while you’re at it

my wife will send you holiday cards and roses forever, thanks!

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1 year ago

3laine

I hope they bring back the MINI-E, too, as the current owner of a 2009 MINI hardtop. I imagine it was awesome: MINI driving dynamics with electric drivetrain.

Anyway, my point was that 156 miles is not apples the apples with current EPA ratings, and your experience seems to indicate that’s true (since you were never able to reach 156 miles), but obviously higher than my 100-110 estimate.

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1 year ago

JIMIJON

Yea , 400miles would Plenty ..

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1 year ago

JIMIJON

Yea , 400miles would Be Plenty ..

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1 year ago

Nix

“counter ambitious plans from rivals”

That sounds like code for Tesla M3 to me. This says to me that they are going to beat the M3, whatever range it ends up having.

It is smart that they aren’t trying to put a number on their range until after Tesla puts out M3 specs for cars that they are not building until a year or two after the M3. In the original article they go on to talk about how they need to learn from tech companies to respond faster to the market. They are going to wait for Tesla to move, and then respond with their own offering. Good for them.

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1 year ago

Get Real

Yes it benefits all of us and the planet too.

I think the problem for the laggard OEMS is that they are effectively 5 plus years behind Tesla in the compelling BEV space and that has allowed the Tesla brand to become synonymous with compelling BEVs.

Therefore as long as Tesla executes its plan they will be the dominant brand of at least high-end BEVs for the forseeable future.

Countryman is the best selling of them.
Please introduce a electric version of Countryman first followed by Clubman and then the Cooper versions.

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1 year ago

3laine

When the 2 and 4-door Hardtop sales are combined, they significantly exceed Countryman sales. I vote Hardtop (or Rocketman) EV rather than adding height and weight and getting nothing in return with the Countryman.

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1 year ago

CHris

Why the f* do they wait ’till 2019/2020?

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1 year ago

Clive

Next Gen X3 is guess.

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1 year ago

wavelet

The timelines basically mean they’re only starting detailed work on these models now.

Not surprising — I suspect the stories about BMW top brass having a board meeting rather than attending the Paris show were right, and after some serious arguments, they decided to continue & strengthen BEV development. I further suspect there was a strong faction that given the disappointing sales of the i3 wanted to keep doing the Euro-compliance PHEVs, but freeze other development.

It also means BMW’s at risk of not being a significant EV player going forward, unless they start making real PHEVs with decent (EPA 30mi+) AER .
The i3, even in 33kWh form, is not a very good competitor to the Bolt, upcoming facelifted eGolf, and probably Focus…